


The Waters That Drew the Heart

by for_t2



Category: Star Wars Prequel Trilogy
Genre: Angst with a Happy Ending, Art, Existential Crisis, F/F, Forests, Gentleness, Growing Up, Identity Issues, Naboo Royal Handmaidens (Star Wars), Planet Naboo (Star Wars), Ruins, Some Things Lost to Time, Some Things Never Lost, True Love, Water
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-16
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-17 19:27:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,459
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29476950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/for_t2/pseuds/for_t2
Summary: The end of Padmé's mandate was drawing near, and the Queen was spending more and more time wandering the forests of Naboo alone. And, always, Sabé found her
Relationships: Padmé Amidala/Sabé
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	The Waters That Drew the Heart

The water lapped gently over the vine-covered stones, bringing the forests, the oceans, and the ruins together into a softly breathing whole. For all the decay, the erosion bringing faded chunks plunking down into the waters from the once towering walls, there was a timelessness to the air that Sabé wouldn’t ever want to disturb. A timelessness that made her feel like she was trespassing from the moment she had jumped down into the flooded ruins. A timelessness that told her it was sacred.

That it was Naboo.

The planet’s forests were scattered with ruins, many of which were lost to the wild, many of which had nothing left of them except ancient Gungan legends, and only a few of which Sabé had ever seen before. She had trained in some, had sat and listened to lessons in some, had gotten lost in others, but there was always more that she would see one day and never again.

It made trying to find somebody who was trying not to be found damn near impossible.

Especially when that person was the Queen. Was her queen. And the problem with being a royal handmaiden was that her queen always, always knew her far too well. Of course, it also meant that Sabé knew Padmé intimately, and it meant that she knew that Padmé needed her space at times, that Padmé needed her space increasingly often, but at some point, Padmé knew Sabé would come for her. Would break that space. And Padmé trusted her to do it, as Sabé trusted Padmé to do it to her when she needed it.

Not to mention that Padmé’s mandate as Queen of Naboo wasn’t over yet and there was only so long that she could be absent from the Palace before the various diplomats and bureaucrats and, most of all, Captain Panaka started pestering the handmaidens about her whereabouts.

“Hey.” The light splash of Sabé’s footsteps through the shallow water died down as she came to a halt a few steps away from Padmé. “Found you.”

The smile Padmé returned was small and faded quickly. “Yeah, you did.”

Quickly enough that Sabé felt another small twang of guilt at her presence. At her intrusion. “Captain Panaka is beginning to wonder where you were, my lady.” She bowed slightly, letting practiced formality seep back into her voice. But that faded quickly too. “And so were we.”

“I know.” Padmé didn’t smile again. Didn’t glance at Sabé again. Just kept herself perched on what was left of an old stone pillar and watched the tide flow through the ruins, the flood level ebbing calmly. “I just…” She sighed. “I don’t know.”

“It’s okay.” And if it wasn’t, Sabé would do whatever she could to make it okay. That’s why she was there. “You don’t have to know.” That’s what all the handmaidens had sworn their lives to.

Padmé chuckled, amused at something that wasn’t quite amusing. “I think I do.”

Sabé gave her a moment to elaborate. When she didn’t, Padmé hopped through the waters to climb up onto the pillar next to her. “Do you want to talk about it?”

“I’m not sure how.” Padmé shuffled instinctively to give Sabé a little room. “It’s… I’m scared.”

Sabé listened to the slight hitch in Padmé’s breathing, how it slipped past the royal façade that never quite went away anymore. “It’s about the end of your mandate, isn’t it?”

“No.” Padmé shook her head, spoke with the conviction that made Sabé burn beautifully. “It’s about the end of our mandate.”

“Ours?”

“Ours.” Padmé repeated herself, conviction even stronger. “It’s not just the end of my mandate as Queen, it’s the end of yours. Of Eirtaé’s. Of Rabé’s. Of all of ours.” Conviction that only lasted until a part of her voice broke. “It’s the end.”

It was. In just a few short weeks, the next Queen would be crowned, and Sabé’s time as a handmaiden would come to an end. It would leave her… “It’s terrifying, isn’t it?”

“It’s more than that.” It was so much more than that. “Réillata is an excellent queen. The experience she has will serve our people well. But… But that doesn’t tell me what I’m supposed to do.”

“You’ve been the most popular Queen Naboo has had in centuries. The best Queen Naboo has ever had.” So much that they had talked about allowing her an unprecedented third mandate as Queen. A talk that Padmé had flatly rejected. “And you’re the kindest, most brilliant, most passionate person I could imagine knowing.” Sabé gave Padmé a small nudge. “You’ll be able to do whatever you want.”

“That’s the problem, Sabé.” Padmé’s tone verged on something that Sabé knew was anger. “Everybody keeps telling me that I’m the kindest, most brilliant, most whatever on the fucking planet. In the fucking galaxy. But it’s not true. It’s not me.” Padmé let out a huff. “It’s us.”

Sabé wasn’t sure how to reply. “My lady—”

“Listen to me, Sabé.” Sabé braced herself for being told not to call her that. “I have learned patience from Eirtaé. I have learned focus from Yané, courage from Saché, I’ve…” Padmé chuckled again. “I’ve learned that stupid, reckless passion that makes me go running off to explore this ancient forest from you.” Padmé stared at Sabé, unblinking, unwavering. “I am who I am because of you. Because of everything that all of you have given me.”

“And we are who we are because of you.” Sabé had learned more than she’d have ever thought possible at Padmé’s side. She had seen more than seemed possible, not just in the galaxy, in the halls of the Galactic Senate or of Jedi missions, but also in Naboo. In this beautiful planet of theirs. “You’ve given us everything and more.”

“Maybe.” Padmé rolled her eyes. “But… But—” Choked. A sob caught in her throat. “Sabé.” A sob followed by tears. “Sabé, I don’t know what I’m supposed to do without you. I don’t know who I’ll be. I don’t know how I’m supposed to leave you. I don’t know if I can. I… I just don’t know.”

“Hey.” Sabé shuffled a little closer to her. Slipped her hand around Padmé’s. “It’s okay.”

“No, no it’s not. It’s really not.” Padmé held on tight to Sabé’s hand. “And don’t tell me that I can do whatever I want. I don’t know if I can face that. Not now.”

Sabé held on tighter to Padmé. Not just her hand, but all of her, as Padmé’s tears dripped down onto her shoulder. “It’s okay.” Sabé hugged her and Padmé hugged her back, two girls in a world that was just theirs, timeless. “And whatever you choose, we’ll be there for you. I promise.”

“Hmm.” As soon as Padmé’s tears slowed, she hummed contently. Looked up, and kissed Sabé. Then grinned. “Come on, let me show you something.”

Sabé didn’t have time to ask what before Padmé was jumping down from the pillar, pulling Sabé along with her.

“Come.” Padmé led her deeper into the ruins. “Look at this.” Led Sabé’s hand across the walls, tracing her fingers across the broken grooves underneath the green overgrowth. “Do you feel it?”

There was a line. Several lines, intertwined with each other, not quite straight, but dipping and curving and flowing as they walked onwards. “Yes.”

“If we keep going,” Padmé kept herself close to Sabé, smiling a little brighter at every change in Sabé’s expression. “It makes a pattern. I think this used to be a temple, and it goes all around, in every room, every corner.” She let out an excited that Sabé recognised as losing herself in her story. “A pattern.”

“It does.” Sabé could feel it. There was something deliberate about the lines, something… something that felt complete. “What is it?”

“I, um…” Padmé laughed. “I have no idea. The ocean took back the back half of the ruins a long time ago.” She hugged Sabé a little closer. “It must’ve been beautiful, once.”

In a way, Sabé thought, it still was, even if just in the form of an enduring memory lingering on. “I didn’t know we used to have architecture like this.”

“Remind me to bring it up to the Palace archivists.” Padmé stayed there with Sabé a moment longer before speaking again, softer. “And Sabé? I know you keep telling me that, whatever happens, whatever we decide next, that you’ll be there for me. That you’ll all be there with me. And…” Padmé gave Sabé that smile she always reserved for the handmaidens and for no one but the handmaidens. “I want to make sure that you know that I’ll be there for you too. For all of you.” Always. “Always.”


End file.
